Tell me how to upgrade my toaster

[Videri]

Update: turns out the power unit and motherboard are burned out. Doc says it'll cost $280 to have him replace them. I spent $300 on this used toaster about 2 years ago.

Looks like I'm in the market for a new one. Probably max $500. I'll look for something with a 100+GB SSD and 8 GB of ram. I'd appreciate any suggestions of other criteria to look for, places to look, or particular models.

[Doctor Jeff]

Originally Posted by Videri [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Update: turns out the power unit and motherboard are burned out. Doc says it'll cost $280 to have him replace them. I spent $300 on this used toaster about 2 years ago.

Looks like I'm in the market for a new one. Probably max $500. I'll look for something with a 100+GB SSD and 8 GB of ram. I'd appreciate any suggestions of other criteria to look for, places to look, or particular models.

This might not be quite what you're looking for, but the friends that I send this guide to have had great success in building budget gaming PCs.

You can mix and match to get what you want, but it serves as a good basis to fall back on.

It seems to be updated frequently, but I could be wrong. In any case, even the $300 PC listed should run EQ flawlessly and quickly, assuming you opt for an SSD.

https://www.reddit.com/r/PCMasterRace/wiki/builds

[Loke]

I only browsed this thread quickly, so sorry if someone else already beat me to some of this info.

First, in reference to microcenter suggestions - if you have one near you it is definitely worth buying some components there. Their processor prices are ridiculous, however, I've been told that their strategy is often to sell processors cheap, and even sometimes at a loss for sales, but bank on the fact that most people buying a new processor are also going to snag at least a mobo and probably some memory, and potentially other components as well. So if you build your own, hit them up for the processor for sure, but shop around on other pieces.

Also if you're building your own, definitely wait for the new Pascal and Polaris video cards. Everything I've heard about the nvidia pascal cards indicates they're going to be affordable and a big step forward from the 9 series (which is crazy since the 9 series was pretty dope, at least in terms of power consuption to performance). I've also heard the new AMD polaris cards might rival the nvidia cards, but I have no idea how much that is based in reality vs just being wishful thinking from everyone who hates seeing a couple companies dominate the market. Polaris is using a smaller architecture (14nm vs 16nm), and potentially GDDR5X in their non-flagship models, so definitely worth a look.

As for laptop vs desktop, unless you plan to be on the the move a lot I can't really see a good argument for a laptop. Slowly upgrading my desktop over time has saved me a ton of money, and throwing the stuff I replace into a second PC means it is still useful. There is some upgrading you can do for a laptop, but eventually youre going to have to replace the whole thing. If you do go laptop I would definitely suggest future proofing a bit by ensuring it has usb-c and a good processor. Usb-c will hopefully let you use an external graphics card soon (razor already released a docking station), so the processor will end up being what forces an upgrade.

I've been doing some research on parts since I'm thinking about finally upgrading my i5 2500k with a broadwell-e, so if you decide to build your own, feel free to post a budget and I can probably offer some suggestions.

Edit: read some more of the thread and thought I'd add a couple suggestions...

If you do build your own and considering your price range, look for some old Haswell deals. Slickdeals.net has had quite a few deals on 4690 and 4790 + mobo combos ever since the skylake processors were released. Those are i7 processors, which you probably dont need, so look for deals on the haswell i5s (i5 4xxx) too. I'm pretty sure I saw some 4690 + mobo + memory deals in the $200-300 range though. Could definitely add a PSU, small SSD, and reuse HDD and case from your old PC to bring the total in under $500.

[JackFlash]

Originally Posted by Videri [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Update: turns out the power unit and motherboard are burned out. Doc says it'll cost $280 to have him replace them. I spent $300 on this used toaster about 2 years ago.

Looks like I'm in the market for a new one. Probably max $500. I'll look for something with a 100+GB SSD and 8 GB of ram. I'd appreciate any suggestions of other criteria to look for, places to look, or particular models.

This is Tala right?

[Videri]

Originally Posted by JackFlash [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

This is Tala right?

Yep.

[JackFlash]

Originally Posted by Videri [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Yep.

If you need any help I'm right around the corner (literally.) Not playing much but happy to help you build a new toaster. Microcenter has some great deals on open box crap. 3-500 could get you going easily. I also have a bunch of stuff laying around if you need upgrade parts for your old pc.

[Videri]

Originally Posted by Doctor Jeff [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

https://www.reddit.com/r/PCMasterRace/wiki/builds

Originally Posted by JackFlash [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Microcenter has some great deals on open box crap. 3-500 could get you going easily.

Hm! Now I have to decide whether to buy a laptop, buy a used toaster, or build my own.

Is building one really going to save me much money and give a better result? The price range seems similar.

[JackFlash]

Originally Posted by Videri [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Hm! Now I have to decide whether to buy a laptop, buy a used toaster, or build my own.

Is building one really going to save me much money and give a better result? The price range seems similar.

If you want to get the most bang for your buck I would say build your own. The in-store only prices on stuff at microcenter can easily offset any savings you would get from buying a pre-made desktop. Not to mention the bloatware and low level components on base models.

[CmaN]

Originally Posted by Videri [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Update: turns out the power unit and motherboard are burned out. Doc says it'll cost $280 to have him replace them. I spent $300 on this used toaster about 2 years ago.

Looks like I'm in the market for a new one. Probably max $500. I'll look for something with a 100+GB SSD and 8 GB of ram. I'd appreciate any suggestions of other criteria to look for, places to look, or particular models.

$280 to replace an old motherboard and power supply? Come on now. I hate to be that guy but I think you can get by with just a cheap ram upgrade to play. It's old DDR2 ram. In some places, where Goodwill repairs computers, you could buy a few sticks for under 20 dollars. A new kit of DDR3 6gb (2gb x 3) goes for as little as $40, with free shipping, just for comparison. Sounds to be like the 'doc' just wants some business building a new system. If you had a burned out power supply and janky motherboard, you would have all kinds of issues.. not even being able to turn on the system, massive instability, etc. I don't know what to tell you.. I don't disagree that you are in line for an upgrade, but come on now that's just silly.

Still willing to look up your board if you provide a make and model, and even link you to the appropriate ram and tell you your boards capacities, etc.

[Videri]

Originally Posted by CmaN [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

If you had a burned out power supply and janky motherboard, you would have all kinds of issues.. not even being able to turn on the system...

Actually I can't. It died Wednesday night after a long neckbeard session. It suddenly and instantly turned off and it would not turn on. I probably just needed to blow the dust out of it more often. I wish I could try this RAM upgrade, but it's beyond that point now.